Julio Julião

Julio is 29 years old and is from Manjacaze in the province of Gaza. He is married and is the father of 2 boys, the oldest of which is 9 and the youngest, 6. Only his oldest son goes to school as in Mozambique children don't start going to school until they are 7 years old.

In 1999 Julio and his family moved to Boane in the province of Maputo, looking for work and to better their quality of life. Initially, Julio worked as a traveling salesman, but in 2001 he decided to open his own stall in front of the main market in Boane. Julio sells various products such as household utensils and some clothes. His most popular products are plates (which he sells at 25 MZN each), spoons (which he sells at 10 MZN each) and drinking glasses (which he sells at between 12.5 MZN and 20 MZN). Julio goes to the capital of Maputo by bus twice a week to buy products. He earns between 300 MZN and 1,000 MZN a week, depending on the season and how much it rains. He earns around 7,800 MZN a month but has not yet managed to start saving any money as he has re-invested everything in his stall.

This will be his first loan with Hluvuku and with Kiva. Prior to this, Julio had a loan of 6,900 MZN from another microcredit institution named Pro-Credit. He used this money to expand his stall. Julio heard of Hluvuku from friends and chose to ask for a loan as Hluvuku is nearer his place of work.

Julio intends to grow and expand his commercial activities and one day build his own fixed store within the market.